A French journalist (Juliette Binoche) who has taken her charmed life for granted starts to look at things in a different way after interviewing Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier) and Alicja (Joanna Kulig), two college-aged prostitutes. Elles, Malgorzata Szumowska’s examination of women’s sexuality breaks little new ground but boasts a keen visual sense and directs Ms. Binoche with care and sensitivity. Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray has fine picture and sound, but it lacks a substantial supplementary section, a shame considering the film's relatively high MSRP.
elles (2011)
Studio: Kino (produced by 20 different production companies)
Year: 2011
Rated: NC-17
Length: 99 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p
Languages: French 5.1 DTS-HD MA, French 2.0 LPCM Stereo
Subtitles: English
MSRP: $34.95
Film Release Date: February 1, 2012
Disc Release Date: September 11, 2012
Review Date: September 12, 2012
The Movie:
3.5/5
Anne (Juliette Binoche) is a well-off French journalist doing an Elle magazine report on teenage prostitutes who use their proceeds to pay for their college educations. Her two subjects, Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier) and Polish-born Alicja (Joanna Kulig) tell her of their life stories, how they got into the business, and how their boyfriends and clientele treat them. While she struggles to get the interviews down to an 8,000-word article, the more she learns about their lives, the more it affects the way she looks at her own sexuality as a woman and how she feels about being a wife and a mother to two sons. After having taken her own social status for granted, she comes to appreciate what she has, as her two interview subjects did not have the luxuries their interviewer does.
Not so much a film about prostitution as a film about women exploring their sexuality, Elles is a frank, challenging, visually creative look at female sexuality. While the plot can be slow and meandering at times, director Malgorzata Szumowska creates an effective visual look for the film, unusually composed long takes with very little dialogue to make the viewer feel like a voyeur into these women’s lives. Juliette Binoche is excellent as Anne, as are her younger co-stars. The sparse dialogue challenges Binoche to show most of her performance through her face, which she pulls off perfectly. The sexual scenes are handled creatively, while the script’s sexual politics, which are undeniably feminist, are handled with tact and a light hand.
The Video:
4.5/5
The film is presented at its theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The film appears to have been shot digitally, and Kino has a clean image to work with; it’s razor sharp throughout and grain-free except in a few low-light situations. DNR and edge enhancement are nonexistent. The film’s color palette favors blues, greens and stark whites, which the disc handles with good contrast and saturation.
The Audio:
4/5
The film’s French soundtrack is presented here as a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. All audio elements are clear and distortion-free, while the surround channels come into use mainly in the outdoor scenes and whenever music plays, which is infrequently. There is also an LPCM 2.0 track.
The Extras:
1/5
All extras are 1080p.
—Edited Trailer (1:52): The green band US trailer.
—Unedited Trailer (1:55): The red band US trailer, with three extra seconds of explicit language and footage.
—Stills Gallery: A small collection of behind-the-scenes shots of the cast.
Final Score:
3/5
Malgorzata Szumowska’s Elles is not a masterwork, but it’s an interesting slice-of-life mixed with a positive view of female sexuality, made interesting by Juliette Binoche’s fine performance and the director’s visual flair. Despite the quality of the picture and sound, the Blu-Ray offers too few extras for its MSRP.
elles (2011)
Studio: Kino (produced by 20 different production companies)
Year: 2011
Rated: NC-17
Length: 99 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p
Languages: French 5.1 DTS-HD MA, French 2.0 LPCM Stereo
Subtitles: English
MSRP: $34.95
Film Release Date: February 1, 2012
Disc Release Date: September 11, 2012
Review Date: September 12, 2012
The Movie:
3.5/5
Anne (Juliette Binoche) is a well-off French journalist doing an Elle magazine report on teenage prostitutes who use their proceeds to pay for their college educations. Her two subjects, Charlotte (Anaïs Demoustier) and Polish-born Alicja (Joanna Kulig) tell her of their life stories, how they got into the business, and how their boyfriends and clientele treat them. While she struggles to get the interviews down to an 8,000-word article, the more she learns about their lives, the more it affects the way she looks at her own sexuality as a woman and how she feels about being a wife and a mother to two sons. After having taken her own social status for granted, she comes to appreciate what she has, as her two interview subjects did not have the luxuries their interviewer does.
Not so much a film about prostitution as a film about women exploring their sexuality, Elles is a frank, challenging, visually creative look at female sexuality. While the plot can be slow and meandering at times, director Malgorzata Szumowska creates an effective visual look for the film, unusually composed long takes with very little dialogue to make the viewer feel like a voyeur into these women’s lives. Juliette Binoche is excellent as Anne, as are her younger co-stars. The sparse dialogue challenges Binoche to show most of her performance through her face, which she pulls off perfectly. The sexual scenes are handled creatively, while the script’s sexual politics, which are undeniably feminist, are handled with tact and a light hand.
The Video:
4.5/5
The film is presented at its theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The film appears to have been shot digitally, and Kino has a clean image to work with; it’s razor sharp throughout and grain-free except in a few low-light situations. DNR and edge enhancement are nonexistent. The film’s color palette favors blues, greens and stark whites, which the disc handles with good contrast and saturation.
The Audio:
4/5
The film’s French soundtrack is presented here as a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. All audio elements are clear and distortion-free, while the surround channels come into use mainly in the outdoor scenes and whenever music plays, which is infrequently. There is also an LPCM 2.0 track.
The Extras:
1/5
All extras are 1080p.
—Edited Trailer (1:52): The green band US trailer.
—Unedited Trailer (1:55): The red band US trailer, with three extra seconds of explicit language and footage.
—Stills Gallery: A small collection of behind-the-scenes shots of the cast.
Final Score:
3/5
Malgorzata Szumowska’s Elles is not a masterwork, but it’s an interesting slice-of-life mixed with a positive view of female sexuality, made interesting by Juliette Binoche’s fine performance and the director’s visual flair. Despite the quality of the picture and sound, the Blu-Ray offers too few extras for its MSRP.
